Let’s have a look at Jim Furyk’s swing. First up I’ve never seen his two-finger overlap grip anywhere else. It would be interesting to learn about what sort of course he grew up playing on as maybe being straight was essential and this grip would certainly help with giving you more control.
Maybe he already hit it a long way and his move was his move and changing that grip wouldn’t work with his release style which would make sense. He has the loop but he delivers the club back on the same angle every time. If you look at where he is through impact he rotates the body phenomenally well and has a very passive clubface. And the grip facilitates that release and helps with being such a straight driver of the ball.
It can also limit wrist movement and that would be good for some parts of chipping but when you need more wrist angle to get some loft it might not be so helpful. Another interesting snippet about Furyk is that you need wrist angle in bunkers and he is a phenomenal bunker player with this grip so he’s bucking a trend there.
His hands at set-up are very close to his body and he can play with this because of how open his body gets at impact.
He lifts the club up and keeps turning the shoulders and then he has the right elbow quite a long way from the body at the top – then as he starts down that elbow works forwards towards the middle of the body and that shallows the club beautifully which is where the extra power is going to come from.
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It is a swing built for accuracy but the shallow transition gets the power. Compared to other players at impact he is a lot more open but he is unique in how he does it as a lot of other players have the elbow further forwards on the body at impact. Furyk’s is on the back of his right hip and he then just rotates through and never releases the wrists. The clubface is so square. Because of the rotation he can square the face.
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Jim Furyk’s swing: What to practise
There are quite a few things. Wherever you are at the top of the backswing the right elbow has to move forwards so the club shaft can shallow. That’s a given. You don’t want the hands to go backwards in transition, you want them to work forwards so he shallows the shft amazingly and then through impact it’s a case of opening the body and trying to understand the relationship between the right palm and the clubface – and how they match one another.
Where the right elbow is, behind the body, a lot of people couldn’t play from there, they would be hitting it miles right as they would be trying to extend that elbow and that would push the face further right. What he does is keep it there and then turns so well.
He is as open as any player on tour at impact. If he wasn’t he would miss it miles right. His body hasn’t changed in 20 years and he has so much flexibility.
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Dan Whittaker is an elite golf swing and performance coach based at High Legh. For more information, visit his website or click here for more advice.
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